A Face That Says It All—And Keeps on Saying It

While the United States still has a Black History Month, let's take a look at a photograph that transcends time and speaks volumes.

Photograph by ©Danny Lyon

Every picture tells a story, don’t it? So says the old song by Rod Stewart. But as Thomas Wolfe tells us in Look Homeward Angel, every moment is also a window on all time. If these things are true—and I think they are—then what is the woman in this photograph reacting to?

Perhaps she is shocked by the transformation of makeup-free Pamela Anderson, making the talk-show rounds in the wake of her Oscar nomination for The Last Showgirl. Although Anderson does look stunning without all the makeup she used to wear during her Playboy bunny and Mötley Crüe-marriage days, it’s highly unlikely that the woman in this photograph cares very much about that.

There’s also a chance that she just opened the New York Times and discovered that Elon Musk has been granted the keys to the federal payment system. Which gives him effective control over IRS tax refunds, Medicare and Social Security payouts, and the ability to freeze any federal payments his DOGE team finds unnecessary or too expensive.

So maybe the woman in this photograph is remembering that Elon Musk is the co-founder of PayPal, a financial payments company. And maybe she’s outraged because Musk has never been elected to public office or confirmed by Congress for any government position. And perhaps it’s just hit her that he spent $277 million dollars to make sure MAGA won the 2024 election. Why break into Fort Knox like Goldfinger wanted to do in the James Bond movie when you can buy a government that will hand over the keys to the United States Treasury?

But if that’s not it, maybe she’s just come across “Where Are You Going, America,”

Dennis Sullivan’s recent essay in the Altamont Enterprise. Which cites philosopher George Santayana, Julius Caesar, and Lucius Cornelius Sulla—who started the first civil war in Ancient Rome—as it compares the decline of Rome’s republic to current events in the America of Project 2025. But despite Sullivan’s illuminating observations on the juxtaposition of history, literature, and philosophy, that’s not the reason the woman in this photograph has that expression on her face.

Alright then, maybe she’s reacting to the recent elimination of DEI programs in government and industry. Or the groundless accusation from the Bully Pulpit that the recent deadly aviation disaster over the Potomac River was caused by unqualified DEI hires. A lie of this magnitude is certainly reason enough for outrage. But hey, everybody knows bully gon lie. Y’all seen anybody eating cats and dogs lately?

Okay, try this

Maybe the woman in this photograph is reacting to the scandal that shook the nation recently, causing the public apology of two high-ranking TV executives. Surely you’ve heard about the famous reality TV host accused of sexually abusing a woman at a dinner party?

When news of the incident became public, the reality TV star paid the woman a large sum of money and announced his retirement. In response, many advertisers pulled their commercials from the network. The company’s chairman and president resigned, apologizing with a bow to the people of Japan for abusing public trust by covering up the incident.

So maybe the woman in this photograph is shocked at this display of shame and remorse in the face of scandal. After all, that’s not the way we do things in America. We put sexually abusive men in the White House and hand them the keys to the Pentagon.

But the woman in this photograph has many other reasons to be outraged

Like the MAGA-driven rumors that Barack and Michelle Obama are divorcing because the nation’s first African American president is allegedly having an affair with white female actor Jennifer Aniston. The woman in this photograph knows that only right-wing white people would fall for a rumor like that. White folks who hoped to make this lie as real as the other ones they tell.

The woman in this picture does not need Megyn Kelly to amplify the lie by asking a panel of white “bros” on the Ruthless podcast if the Obama divorce rumors were true—as if they would know!—presumably because Michelle Obama did not show up for 47’s Inauguration or Jimmy Carter’s funeral.

The lady in this photograph already knows why Michelle Obama did not show up. She knows that divorce had nothing to do with it. Even before the rumors were finally debunked, it was clear that MAGA folks pushed the story to throw shade on the Obamas because they feel Michelle threw shade on Felonious Thump. It’s all about schadenfreude. You wanna throw shade? We’ll show you how to throw shade! And other petty nonsense.

And yet, this is no small thing

as Reese Witherspoon recently revealed during an interview. While serving on a jury during a two-week trial, her fellow jurors immediately moved to appoint her as its foreman.

“But why me?” asked Witherspoon.

“Because you’re a lawyer.”

“I'm not a lawyer,” the actress replied. “I didn’t even finish college.”

Here’s the kicker—or rather, the kick in the pants. Reese Witherspoon’s fellow jurors believed she was a lawyer because she played a lawyer in Legally Blonde. (Hmm. I wonder what would happen if she played a powerful business executive for 14 seasons on network TV?)

That, my friends, is the power of branding. And that is what the Obama-divorce rumors were all about. Make the Black liberal guy look bad and the MAGA guy look good. It doesn’t matter if it’s true. The main thing is to reinforce the consistent messaging of the brand.

As one local GOP candidate said after the November election: Kamala Harris ran an excellent campaign. But even the best 60-day campaign cannot beat 11 years of branding.

However, the woman in the above photograph

has another reason to be outraged about this aspect of the story. Because when you get right down to it, Barack and Michelle Obama are the reason for the current crackdown on DEI. It’s not because DEI hires are inept.

It’s because racist white American never expected minorities to do so well. Go to Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. Win the White House. And the Nobel Prize. Be smarter. Look better in a tan suit and J. Crew couture. Realize the fullness of the American Dream. No, no, we need to get rid of these diversity programs. We gotta to keep these people in their place. The good Lord never intended for them to get ahead of white folks.

All of these are pretty good reasons for the woman in that iconic photograph to look so outraged. But she’s not reacting to any of those things. Because photographer Danny Lyon didn’t take that photograph in 2025.

He took it on a day no African American will ever forget. Even if they weren’t born yet. Because the incident is etched into the Black psyche like so much other trauma. It was taken in Birmingham, Alabama, in September of 1963, at the funeral of four little Black girls murdered by white supremacists, who exploded a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church.

And that is a mighty strong reason, reason enough to be outraged. Although Danny Lyon never thought of his work during the Civil Rights Movement as Art, this is one photograph that has stood the test of time, standing not only for that ghastly moment in the racially fraught history of the United States. But as the face of outrage for decades to come. Because after all, every picture really does tell a story. And every moment really is a window on all time.

©2025 Andrew Jazprose Hill | All rights reserved.

Thanks for reading/listening. Please hit the like, share, and/or comment buttons to help others find my work. Thanks!